Mr Darcy's Cipher (Spies & Prejudice Book 1)
by VioletKingAuthor
Summary: A secret letter brings Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy together. Will stopping an assassination tear them apart? It's 1811. Elizabeth is a code-breaker. Mr. Darcy brings her a cipher. But saving the country is nothing compared to deciphering their feelings for each other. [Elizabeth/Darcy, Jane/Bingley]
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** I am excited to share with you my newest Work in Progress - Mr. Darcy's Cipher, Book 1 of the Spies and Prejudice series. This book is being shared with the hope and plan of being professionally published in ebook format. I sincerely appreciate your feedback and hope that you enjoy the book! This is my first Pride and Prejudice book, it is not yet professionally edited, and details within the book may change as the story evolves. With that caveat, I sincerely hope you love reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it (which is a WHOLE LOT!) ***NOTE*** Thank you EightYearsandaHalf for calling attention to some issues I had overlooked in this chapter! Timeline issues have been addressed. This chapter has been updated to reflect these changes! As always, all errors are my own.

 **Chapter 1**

It was a truth universally acknowledged within the Longbourn House, that of Mr. Bennet's five daughters, Lizzie was the only one who had inherited her father's love of puzzles.

At first, humoring Elizabeth was a matter of pride. One autumn afternoon, when Elizabeth was nine years of age, she slipped beside him on the chaise and pointed at a large stack of papers from a missive he had received that morning from London.

"What an odd script!" Elizabeth exclaimed at the seemingly nonsensical symbols. "Is it Greek?"

"It is a cipher." Mr. Bennet leaned closer to his daughter, and the ghost of a smile teased his lips. "A secret."

"What kind of secret?"

"To discover that, one must unwind the code."

Lizzie nodded, her dark eyes shining. "Show me!"

Mr. Bennet put in front of her a sheet of paper and explain to her how to go about decoding a simple Caesar cipher. He expected Lizzie to grow weary of the exercise, as her older sister Jane had done a year before, but Elizabeth was tenacious. Before a half an hour had passed, she handed back the code, deciphered in small, precise script.

And so father and daughter began a lifelong pattern of instruction. And as Mr. Bennet's eyesight failed him, it was Lizzie who read the missives sent by [Sir Drake] and the prime minister's office to foil Bonaparte's designs on conquering England.

Had Elizabeth been born a man, Mr. Bennet might have informed others of her skills, but codebreaking wasn't an appropriate vocation for a young lady, and worse, he had grown dependent on her abilities as his eyesight rendered the world around him a cipher that became increasingly difficult to navigate. So he kept Lizzie's abilities, and his own deficiencies, from being discovered outside the walls of his own home.

The relationship between father and daughter at points quite irritated Mrs. Bennet who had no interest in puzzles or faculty for solving them, but she humored her husband at the same time entreating her daughter to stay silent with potential suitors about her oddities. And Lizzie, being a good-natured, lighthearted, and dutiful young woman of twenty years, yielded to her mother in this, not wanting her own eccentricities to stand in the way of her finding a loving match.

Father and daughter sat, head bowed over what appeared to be a Caesar Cipher when Mrs. Bennet noisily entered her husband's study. "My dear Mr. Bennet," said the lady to him. She bustled across the room to the window and flung it open. "How long have the pair of you been cooped up in this room without even the slightest hint of a breeze to liven the air?" The papers on Mr. Bennet's desk fluttered beneath twin paperweights a damp autumn breeze blew over the room.

Mr. Bennet leaned back on his chair. The clock said half three, too early for luncheon or tea. His wife rarely ventured into his domain at this point of the day. "It is half three," returned Mr. Bennet. "What is the matter?"

Mrs. Bennet glanced over at Elizabeth, who despite her best efforts had speckles of black ink on her fingers and speckling the dull walnut colored fabric of her linen mitts, as, lips moving, she tapped at a paper, scrawled all over in code, with the back of her pen.

"Lizzie! Your hands! My heavens, you must wash these immediately and change into something more suitable!"

Elizabeth looked up. "Mother?"

"Suitable for what?" Mr. Bennet asked. "She hasn't any balls or visits planned at this time of the day, has she?"

"No! It is even better." Mrs. Bennet brought her hands up to her chest with a delighted intake of breath. "Your guest, a young, handsome and unmarried gentleman by the name of Mr. Darcy is here in our parlor! Why did you not inform me he was calling? He is in every manner proper, from his waistcoat to his Hessians. I would have had the cook prepare a special lunch so he might feel more welcome and have a more pleasant opportunity to meet and converse with our daughters."

"Mr. Darcy...," Mr. Bennet mused. "Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. Yes. I had quite forgotten the date. Mr. Darcy is not here for lunch. His deceased brother sent a letter, presumably in code, and he wished it deciphered. As the younger Mr. Darcy was stationed in France, I felt it imperative to assess the cipher myself to make certain it had nothing to do with our affairs abroad. Now, why have you abandoned the elder Mr. Darcy in our parlor?"

"For Lizzie's sake!" Mrs. Bennet responded. "Elizabeth, my nerves cannot bear the thought of your bluestocking tendencies being revealed to such esteemed company. You may never marry! I fear I might faint. Mr. Bennet, how is it you allowed your daughter to come to such a state? Have you no eyes?"

"I fear I still am in possession of both, however poorly they serve me."

"Well, my dear," Mrs. Bennet said, skimming over the distasteful fact of her husband's failing eyesight as it, to some extent, negated his periodic compliments of her remaining beauty. "It would behoove you both for Lizzie scrub her hands at the very least. We may not have time to change her into a more flattering dress, but-"

"Lizzie, stay put," Mr. Bennet said. "My dear," he continued. "This gentleman is here converse with me?"

"His manners are exquisite, and with such a serious air, and elder Mr. Darcy you say? Perhaps eldest," Mrs. Bennet added hopefully. "He is certainly of fine breeding. I had thought he might be but a second or third son commissioned with the [militia] or [army] though he gave no rank and he does not wear regimentals-"

"Elder? Eldest? It does not answer the question of why is he remains idling in our parlor."

"Lizzie must be made suitable. It is wonderful news, first Mr. Bingley taking possession of Netherfield house, and now-"

"Mr. Bingley? What has any of this to do with Mr. Bingley?"

"You do not listen at all." Mrs. Bennet let out a weary sigh. "How painful is your disregard! We discussed Mr. Bingley a week ago. He is likely arrived at this point. Oh! What if this Mr. Darcy is a guest of Mr. Bingley?"

"Suppose-"

"And Mr. Bingley has taken possession of Netherfield Park. Such a fine thing for our girls, or it would be if you called upon him before some other man's daughter snaps the young gentleman up! If you were to tear your attention for one moment from the war to tend to your duties at home-."

"It will do no good to our daughters to be settled if Bonaparte storms over the breadth of England and seizes from them anything which they might have gained through marriage."

"Again with Bonaparte!" Mrs. Bennet stomped her foot. "We are all doing as we ought to support our men on the front. Have not myself the other ladies sewn blankets and knitted warm items to send to our fighting men? But one must also accept that the concerns of our lives amount to more than opposing that vile man of the Continent who declares himself an emperor. I could not wish to believe you, my dear Mr. Bennet, spared no care for your daughters beyond how our Lizzie's keen eyes assist you in your deciphering.

"This Mr. Darcy, a handsome, young gentleman who is currently lacking a wife. I have no sense yet of his assets—"

"A difficult thing to determine in a few moments of conversation, though I do not doubt you gave a valiant effort," Mr. Bennet said with no small amount of sarcasm in his tone.

Mrs. Bennet ignored it. "This Mr. Darcy might provide an excellent match for one of our daughters. You understand this is of greater import than mere scribblings, as amusing as you both may find them. Now Lizzie, scrub your hands. Your father will be able to engage in idle conversation until you return-"

It was the wrong thing to say. Mr. Bennet's face flushed, and his voice was low and furious as he stated, "Bonaparte may invade at any moment, and you natter on about our daughter's hands? This gentleman, whether or not he is wed, will leave post-haste as soon as his brother's correspondence is deciphered; and in either case, if he cannot see past a pair of ink-dappled hands, he is no use to us."

"No use!" Mrs. Bennet exclaimed. "In case you have forgotten, all five of your daughters are as yet unwed. And at the moment of your death, our house and all we own is entailed to your cousin."

"I am well aware were of our difficulties, more so because you see fit to remind me of them daily."

"Already, you refuse to call upon Mr. Bingley, stating now you do not remember the conversation we had on just this subject in this room a mere week ago. Oh, my nerves! It is as though a thousand spiders are skittering over my skin, and I cannot breathe for the fear. Oh Mr. Bennet!"

Mr. Bennet was unmoved.

"I can wash them," Elizabeth said to mollify her mother. She hated it when her parents fought, especially when she was the cause. No matter the state of her hands though, Elizabeth doubted a talent for deciphering code would offer her entry into a young gentleman's heart. It hardly mattered. If this Mr. Darcy was here about a code, he would depart quickly enough with his questions answered.

"No, Lizzie. We have kept Mr. Darcy waiting long enough. Send him in, Mrs. Bennet," Mr. Bennet ordered. "The quicker we handle it, the quicker he can be on his way."

"The point of this discussion is not to send an available young gentleman on his way––."

"Either send him in, or you will force me to go myself to receive him."

"No! Do not stir yourself on my behalf. I will have him brought here. Elizabeth, if you don't wash that ink away, at least take care to hide your fingers." Mrs. Bennet turned abruptly to the door, her skirts flaring out with the force of her spin as she strode with well-choreographed indignation from the room.

 **Thank you so much for reading!** **I will have the next chapter up soon.**

Best,

Violet


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:** This is Chapter 2 of my Work in Progress (and planned upcoming release) Mr. Darcy's Cipher (Spies and Prejudice series). I am very excited to share this book with you and hope you enjoy it! As a warning, this book is not yet edited beyond a run through Grammarly and is most definitely a work in progress (WIP). Things are always subject to change as the story develops. I appreciate any and all feedback, both as motivation to keep going as well as notations of errors and suggestions for improvement. (I won't be able to take every suggestion, but I will read them all with gratitude!) Again, I hope you enjoy this chapter! ***NOTE*** Thank you EightYearsandaHalf for calling attention to some issues I had overlooked in this chapter! Handshake issues have been addressed :) This chapter has been updated to reflect these changes! As always, all errors are my own.

 **Chapter 2**

Mrs. Bennet, a middle-aged blonde woman, hair threaded silver, features touched with a remembered handsomeness and clothes clinging to youthful frivolity, guided Mr. Darcy into a small, well-cared for if not extravagant parlor area. "And Mrs. Darcy, how is she enjoying our fair town?"

For a brief moment, Darcy was tempted to tell a falsehood, but even if he had been inclined towards lying, which he decidedly was not, the construction of an imaginary wife would not sustain itself for the duration of his stay in Hertfordshire. Still, it irked him to see the pointed curiosity and catlike hunger in Mrs. Bennet's gaze as she fished to find out if he had a wife. "I am not as yet married," Mr. Darcy said after a pause.

"Oh! A regretful state for a man such as yourself!" Mrs. Bennet exclaimed with ill-hidden delight. "A wife truly brings tranquility and joy to a home. I trust you will be allowed leave enough to enjoy the hospitality of our town. There are many young ladies about who might capture your interest..."

Like her daughter, presumably, or however many daughters occupied this house, which now, through acquaintanceship with their father, he might be obligated to offer his attention. "If I might speak with Mr. Bennet," Darcy interjected. "I had written to arrange this visit. It is business of the utmost urgency."

"Yes, of course," Mrs. Bennet said. "I will let him know you have arrived." And with that, she swept out.

It was odd and not at all pleasant to be abandoned in the parlor of a stranger. Though in comparison to Mrs. Bennet's inquiries, even Darcy's own dark thoughts were an improvement. His brother Reginald's final correspondence, much of it pages and pages of nonsense Latin, some blurred by water, weighed on his heart.

Reginald Darcy had died in France five months ago. The letter, water stained and crushed at the corners where the envelope had clearly been battered about for some time, was like a voice whispering from the grave. Not that Darcy had seen his brother's actual resting place. His body had been too desiccated by water and time for transport, especially considering the relations between England and France.

Reggie, lighthearted and at points, irreverent Reggie, had lost his life not by an enemy bullet or sword, but instead to a knife in the dark. Murdered by a cutpurse, stripped of his valuables, and left putrefying in the sewer until only his watch remained to identify him.

Why the thief hadn't stolen that as well as his purse was another mystery Darcy found himself ill-equipped to solve.

Darcy took the watch from his pocket and flipped it open. Half three. What was taking Mrs. Bennet so long?

Darcy wondered again if accompanying Bingley to guest at his new estate was a good decision. Mr. Erasmus Bennet was reputed to be one of the finest codebreakers in England, though if that was the case, it made little sense for him to hole himself up so far from London.

It hardly mattered. The code would have been something Georgiana could decipher easily. It shouldn't have required a master codebreaker to decipher, and Darcy was quite annoyed with himself that he hadn't managed to work it out on his own.

Of all the times for Reggie to be obscure in his presentation.

Reggie, like Wickham, had possessed an easy charm, though unlike Wickham, Reggie's interests lay beyond gambling and tupping unsuspecting young women. Reggie had been intelligent, kind, and daring to a fault.

He had also, apparently by the pages of Latin he had written in the letter, been eager to convince Georgiana he had found some solace in religion on the Continent. Or converted to Catholicism, heaven forbid! Knowing his younger brother, Darcy doubted a sudden turn towards the devout. Reggie had always been more inclined to the flesh than spirit, mischievous with an easy grin, even as a babe in swaddling clothes.

It was difficult to accept he would never see his brother smile, or frown, or throw himself with reckless abandon into the boxing ring again.

Reggie's letter had been addressed to Georgiana, but Darcy could not bear to give it to her without understanding it fully. First their father's death, then Wickham's betrayal, and now Reggie's senseless murder. Darcy was not a man inclined towards light humor, and the crushing weight of tragedy and crisis had quite weighted his already serious nature.

Georgiana was fragile, though she hid it behind her manners and a brave smile. Georgiana had loved Reggie, and her mourning of his passing had set her mood as black as her clothing these past five months. Reggie and Georgie, as they called each other, had close in temperament, while Darcy, aware of his responsibilities from a very young age, had always felt an obligation to watch out for them and ensure they understood and followed the rules.

It was his own protectiveness that had led him to read the letter their brother had sent to Georgiana. Protectiveness and some hidden vein of jealousy he refused to acknowledge even to himself. Georgiana looked towards Darcy for protection, but there had always been a barrier between them. The same barrier that kept Darcy apart from the rest of the world.

The lady of the house, Mrs. Bennet, finally returned. "This way, Mr. Darcy," she said. "How long do you intend to be with us in Meryton? Not too short a visit, I hope?"

"A month at the least," Mr. Darcy admitted. "I was invited to stay as a guest of Mr. Bingley."

"Of Netherfield Park! How wonderful!"

They had arrived just yesterday evening, but of course, the local rumor mill had likely been churning about Bingley since the news of his having leased the place reached the ears of the local solicitor's wife. A young, single man of good fortune was always prized. Darcy was lucky in that as a late addition to Bingley's party, the locals did not yet know of his 10,000 pounds.

Mrs. Bennet led Mr. Darcy into a small, chilly study. The windows were wide, letting in a fair amount of sunlight, and one was open. A damp breeze blew in a bit too strongly to be pleasant. On a chaise diagonally set from the window, behind a low wooden table scattered with various papers, sat a stocky, older man. His thick, gray hair receded slightly of temples, and a pair of thick spectacles were balanced on his nose. Presumably, this was Mr. Bennet, and beside him, the young, unmarried daughter of the house who Mrs. Bennet had likely insisted dress hurriedly and rush to sit in the study as though she often, casually, spent time there.

Mr. Darcy was having none of it.

The young woman was admittedly handsome to some degree with black, lustrous curls tied up in a knot at the nape of her neck and dark eyes that were undeniably her best feature, hinting at least some intelligence as her gaze met his. Her hands, partially encased in dull brown, fingerless mitts, bunched in the skirts of her dress in her lap. An odd, nervous habit that Darcy did not admire.

"Mr. Bennet, our guest, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, is arrived. Mr. Darcy, may I introduce you to my husband, Mr. Bennet, and our daughter, Elizabeth."

Mr. Bennet and his daughter stood and Mr. Darcy bowed to both. As Miss Elizabeth grasped her skirts to curtsy, Mr. Darcy had occasion to look more closely at her hands. He noted a speckled discoloration on the fabric above the knuckle of her index finger.

Perhaps her presence here wasn't a pure fabrication. Likely she performed clerical tasks for her father, though why he could not hire a secretary of his own Mr. Darcy could not determine. Was the Bennet family in such dire straits that Mr. Bennet could not afford one? Or perhaps, or likely, Mr. Bennet was simply cautious, considering the sensitive materials he was rumored to handle on behalf of the Prime Minister.

It hardly mattered. Mr. Bennet could not intend for his daughter to remain here for the entirety of their meeting.

"A pleasure, Miss Bennet," Mr. Darcy said. "I wouldn't expect you to bore yourself this fine afternoon entangling yourself in the complications of your father's deciphering."

"While I greatly enjoy a brisk walk on an afternoon such as this one, it would be better if I remain at my father's side, Mr. Darcy."

Well, wasn't Miss Bennet forward? Though she didn't act in the slightest bit coquettish. More annoyed. Mr. Darcy was taken aback. "Surely the intricacies of codes and ciphers are not the domain of properly raised young lady such as yourself," he protested.

"Lizzie," Mrs. Bennet interrupted, stepping over to her daughter's side and grabbing her firmly by the arm. "Perhaps we should leave Mr. Bennet and Mr. Darcy to their conversation."

Mrs. Bennet gave her daughter's arm a none too subtle tug, but the younger Bennet stood firm. "If I were able to look over the code you have brought, we might be able to determine the capabilities of a woman of my upbringing."

Mr. Darcy was overcome by the sudden realization that he had erred. Severely.

Miss Bennet's dark eyes shone with indignation. "If I may," Miss Bennet held out her hand, palm up. Having a clear view of the appendage, Mr. Darcy realized the mitts contained not a single discoloration, but an accumulation of ink speckles and stains that had clearly been seeped into the fabric over a long period of time.

"Are you studied in liturgical Latin?" Mr. Darcy asked with an attempt at greater politeness. Judging by the lady's expression, the attempt was unsuccessful.

Miss Bennet's lips tightened to a pale line that only highlighted the high color in her cheeks and flush over her forehead. She said, "I am studied enough."

"If we might take a look," Mr. Bennet added, the corners of his lips twitching with something like amusement. It was a more welcoming expression than his daughter's, who was clearly still furious, but ultimately, Mr. Darcy expected whatever jest the elder Bennet was enjoying, Mr. Darcy was clearly the butt of it.

"Mr. Bennet?" Mrs. Bennet tried to meet her husband's gaze, but Mr. Bennet kept his attention fixed on Mr. Darcy.

Having no other polite option, Mr. Darcy handed the letter over.

A soft knock sounded at the door. "That must be Mrs. Heyer about refreshments," Mrs. Bennet said, referring to the housekeeper with exaggerated cheer. "I'll just step outside to speak with her. How do you take your tea, Mr. Darcy?"

 **XYXYXYX**

 **Thank you so much for reading!** I plan to have the next chapter up on Saturday, where we're really going to get into the contents of the letter! I am so grateful you are taking the time to read this book, and as always, welcome your feedback. You rock!


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:** Here's Chapter 3 of my work in progress, Mr. Darcy's Cipher (Spies and Prejudice, Book 1). **UPDATE: By popular request, I have added some snippets of the code to this and future chapters!** This book is a whole bunch of fun, and I keep having to rearrange things to get the balance of spy-craft and romance right. It is not yet edited, though I have run it through spell check and Grammarly. As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and if you have any feedback for me, either notes for improvement, questions, or just straight up encouragement, please drop me a review (or PM if it's something more complicated and you wish to have a genuine conversation.) ! I read all feedback! I am hoping to have this book published by the end of the year, and I appreciate you taking a look at the first draft of it. ***NOTE*** Thank you EightYearsandaHalf for calling attention to some issues I had overlooked in this chapter! Teatime and dinner timeline issues have been addressed :) Also, **big THANK YOU to EmmaE73** who pointed out that I had used the wrong cipher name here and in Chapter 5. Fixed! This chapter has been updated to reflect these changes! As always, all errors are my own.

 **Chapter 3**

Mr. Darcy might admittedly be possessed of handsome features and fine manners, but little else recommended him. Elizabeth Bennet could not and truthfully did not wish to contain her fury as she took Mr. Darcy's letter and opened it.

It began _: My dearest Georgiana..._

"This letter is not addressed to you," Elizabeth remarked.

"It was sent from my late brother. Reginald Darcy, to our younger sister."

Elizabeth knew she ought to feel some charitable sentiment for a man who had recently lost a brother, but considering how dismissive Mr. Darcy had been of her and her capabilities, in truth just the slightest hair of being outright rude, Elizabeth could not muster the emotion. "My condolences," she said stiffly.

"Thank you," Mr. Darcy said, his voice nearly as flat as her own. If this was a young man was in mourning, he took care to hide such emotions from those around him. More likely, he did not possess much familial regard at all.

No. That was unfair. She hardly knew the man. Still, however, Mr. Darcy mourned, or did not, stealing away his own sister's correspondence did not incline Elizabeth to think well of him. "If your late brother did send your sister a message in some form of code, would it not make sense to assume she had the necessary tools to decipher it?" Elizabeth asked.

Mr. Darcy's expression froze for the briefest moment. Finally, he said, "It is because my sister might quickly decipher it that I have brought it to your father's attention first. My sister Georgiana and my brother Reginald were quite close. It has been five months since his passing, and she is only beginning to step out of her deep mourning. For the first month, she did not smile, and she hardly ate. As her guardian, I must see to her well-being, of the body, mind, and spirit."

Elizabeth weighed Mr. Darcy's explanation. Devotion to family, to especially a beloved sister, was something Elizabeth understood all too well. Though her own sister was the elder, Elizabeth had always been protective of Jane's happiness. Jane had a sweetness of temperament that brought joy to every room, but there was also a fragility to it. Like the bloom of a prize rose, subtle alterations to the soil and air could harm its petals or keep it held tight in bud until it withered and fell.

"And if this letter's contents are something innocuous?" Elizabeth asked.

"Then I will seal it and pass along it with your father's translations to Georgiana immediately. It is not my intent to hide our brother's last words from her, but more to ensure that they do not, at this time, add to her grief."

And yet, while Elizabeth did understand the urge to protect, she did not, in her heart, fully agree that Mr. Darcy had the right of it. Did not Georgiana have a right to her own grief?

A difficult tangle and one Elizabeth was not charged to decipher.

Thankfully, Mr. Bennet interrupted her musings with a practical question. "Is the entire letter in code?"

"No," Mr. Darcy said. "The first page or so is ordinary pleasantries, and Reggie shares – –." Mr. Darcy swallowed. It was the only concession in his manner to what Elizabeth was beginning to just to suspect was a far deeper grief than his general demeanor suggested. "He shared some small ordinary details of his life in the French capital. Nothing, as far as I can ascertain, relating to the Emperor's designs or movements. And the latter pages were wet. Some of the words are almost indecipherable, even if they did make sense before."

Elizabeth skimmed over those pages, trying hard not to feel like a voyeur picking over the silhouette of another man's remains. Nothing immediately caught her eye is a code key. No letters were oddly capitalized or written in a different style. Nor were other simple tricks used. The first letter of each paragraph spelled nothing; neither did the last.

Still, for Mr. Darcy's brother to be in the French capital at all suggested something deeper at play. Through assisting her father, Elizabeth was well aware that both Bonaparte and the Prime Minister employed at points less than honorable means of obtaining information about their opponents. War was far messier than what the officers in their sharp regimentals shared when flirting with young ladies. But if Reginald Darcy was doing special, secret work for the crown, it would do no good for Elizabeth to suggest such a thing to his grieving and overly constrained older brother. Especially not without more than a suspicion.

Admittedly, my dearest sister, there is more to life here than the acquisition of pastry. I have found points only the comfort of the Almighty can offer some degree of solace. In truth, sometimes it is only the hand of the Lord who can truly comfort and protect us in times of trouble.

After that, it was as Mr. Darcy described. Two pages of neatly scribed Latin, formatted as though it was a prayer.

It began:

 _Piissimus dominus_

 _Illustrator iudex_

 _Auctor magnus_

 _Incompraehensibilis pacificus_

 _Optimus iudex_

 _Omnipotens redemptor_

 _Gloriosus immortalis_

 _Imperator fabricator_

 _Opifex conditor_

 _Misericors sempiternus_

 _Rex iudex…_

The words were, of course, nonsense. At first, Elizabeth thought it might be a Latin Gibberish cipher, but nothing was spelled backwards with false Latin suffixes. Maybe it was an Ave Maria cipher with each letter a faux Latin word, Elizabeth surmised. But lacking the key, deciphering it would take some work, without even taking into account the later water-damaged sections.

Elizabeth handed the letter to her father and outlined for the pair of them what she had seen, suggesting only at the end that she believed it was likely there was a cipher at work, but not one so easily unraveled to be completed in an afternoon.

A knock sounded at the study door. "Mr. Bennet?" Before any of the room's occupants could respond, the door opened, and Mrs. Bennet stepped inside. "A light dinner is ready if Mr. Darcy would like to join us when you have finished your business."

Elizabeth glanced at the clock. It was barely a quarter to four. They generally took dinner at four-thirty and tea directly after. Mrs. Heyer must have been working like a dervish to have a dinner together so early for the Bennet household.

"I could not impose," Mr. Darcy said stiffly. They took dinner at six-thirty in the city. Was Mr. Darcy looking down his nose at the Bennets for having such country hours?

Mr. Bennet nodded. "You may leave the letter in our care, Mr. Darcy, and I shall write to you when the translation is complete. It will have to be fit between my other work as Bonaparte and his disciples do not wait for our convenience to make their moves."

"Yes, certainly. I have heard your skills are in great demand from many sources. And my brother is long passed. This is for my peace, and my sister's peace, entirely."

"Shall I direct my missive to the address from which you wrote before?"

"For the duration of the holidays, I will be staying as a guest with Mr. Charles Bingley, who has recently leased the nearby estate at Netherfield Park." Mr. Darcy looked resigned. "It should be a simple thing to send any necessary correspondence there."

"But that is such a short distance!" Mrs. Bennet exclaimed. "You surely must return here to discuss the contents of your brother's correspondence when my husband has finished his work."

Another knock, and Lydia, her voice unmistakably pitched higher in an attempt at flirtation, said through the door, "Mother! Are you there?"

"Yes, my dear," Mrs. Bennet went to the door and swiftly opened. "Lydia," she admonished with no especial fervor in her tone. "You know better than to interrupt your father while he is working."

Lydia had dressed speedily but with obvious attention to flirting with a young gentleman with her hair arranged in perfect ringlets peeking from beneath her bonnet, and her dress, a pale yellow that perfectly highlighted her light blue eyes. Unlike Elizabeth, whose mitts were dark beige speckled with ink, Lydia's were the same white silk she wore when attending a local assembly. She smiled at Mr. Darcy and looked up at him through her lashes. "Father, I apologize for disturbing you. And your guest."

"We had just asked Mr. Darcy to enjoy his luncheon with us," Mrs. Bennet said brightly. "Mr. Darcy, how do you take your tea?"

Mr. Darcy did not acknowledge Mrs. Bennet's invitation the second time. Instead, he inclined his head towards each of them and said, "I must take my leave. Thank you, again."

"Lydia!" Mrs. Bennet called to her daughter. "Why don't you show Mr. Darcy to the door?"

"Yes, Mother!" Lydia said with delight. She managed, just barely, to get ahead of the taciturn gentleman. "This way. Are you fond of dancing, Mr. Darcy?"

Mrs. Bennet rubbed the thumb of her gloved right hand along the ridge of the other as she left to follow the pair at enough of a distance as to barely maintain the illusion of propriety.

After they had gone, Elizabeth muttered. "I wish Lydia the best with him."

Mr. Bennet smiled. "So you, like my wife, would wish Mr. Darcy to become a member of our family?"

"I'd rather marry his horse!" Elizabeth stated with vehemence. "And you know how I despise riding."

"A horse easily can be led by the reins. A man..." Mr. Bennet laughed, and after a moment, Elizabeth joined him.

Still, Elizabeth's mirth felt hollow. It disturbed her to have been so affected by the man. Granted, her primary emotion concerning Mr. Darcy had been dislike. She tried to tell herself it spurred from his disdain for her abilities. But others had disbelieved her skills in cracking ciphers. None had spurred such instant fury.

As the laughter died, Elizabeth took a second piece of paper and a pen for notes, but her mind was occupied with the first mystery of why Mr. Darcy had affected her so quickly and deeply.

"Will you read that out for me?" Mr. Bennet asked.

"Yes, father." Elizabeth started to read, but her mind wasn't on the code.

Mr. Darcy's handsome features had made tricked Elizabeth into expecting more from him, she concluded. That was her mistake, not his. At least his very rational desire to flee had spared them all an awkward meal.

That night, in their shared bedroom, Jane sat down on the edge of Elizabeth's bed. "So is Mr. Darcy as terrible as Lydia says?" she asked in a hushed tone.

Elizabeth initial thought was to give a quick yes, but in only the company of her favorite sister, she could not firmly state the man had been wholly terrible. "He was cold, and at points short-tempered, and of course he dismissed my abilities, but…"

"Usually, you are not so restrained in your opinions, Elizabeth. Did you find him handsome?" Jane added, "Lydia found him very handsome. And rude. And generally awful."

"He was handsome." Not that it mattered, considering the nature of their meeting and his temperament. "Like a marble statue and with about as much warmth. I doubt his lips have experienced a smile in all of his years of life. His face would likely shatter into a dozen pieces if he tried."

"You are incorrigible," Jane said with a laugh.

Elizabeth joined her sister in laughing. But even in her shared levity, Elizabeth could not help wondering why she couldn't erase the intensity of Mr. Darcy's gaze from her mind and how it might soften his features if he smiled.

 **XYXYXYX**

 **Thank you for reading!** This book is a blast to write, and you can read the rest of it on Amazon in Kindle Unlimited! Enjoy!


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